Kyle JoekelPosted By: KLKN Newsroom
8@klkntv.com
Kyle Joekel of Gage County was one of seven arrested in a fatal shootout with Louisiana deputies.
A sheriff says seven people arrested in a fatal shootout with Louisiana deputies have been linked to violent anarchists on the FBI's domestic terrorism watch lists.
DeSoto Parish Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle said his detectives had been monitoring the group before Thursday's shootout in Laplace, a suburb of New Orleans. Two deputies were killed and two more wounded.
Arbuckle said Saturday his detectives and the work of other law enforcement agencies discovered the suspects were heavily armed adherents to an ideology known as the "sovereign citizens" movement.
The FBI has classified "sovereign citizens" as people who believe they are free from all duties of a U.S. citizen, like paying taxes. The FBI considers them a danger for making threats to judges and law enforcement, using fake currency and impersonating police officers.
Joekel escaped authorities last year after a pursuit into Kansas. Gage County deputies were called to a disturbance in a bar in Barneston. The sheriff's office says Joekel and another man were involved in the incident and led deputies in a chase. Joekel escaped.
